ABSTRACT
This research project investigated the relationship between service quality and customer retention in selected eateries in in Port Harcourt. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, six hypotheses were proposed and data collected through the issue of 102 structured questionnaires to customers of selected eateries around Port Harcourt. The collected data was presented in table and analysed using Spearman Rank Correlation. The findings of the research among other things revealed that: There is positive and significant relationship between the reliability of service quality and customer retention. The findings also show that responsiveness affects customer retention positively. Finally, the findings show that there is a positive relationship between tangibility of services rendered and customer retention. Based on the findings, we draw the following conclusions: Reliability of service quality is an important determinant of the ability of eateries. We also conclude that employee responsiveness to customer needs is an important determinant of the success of eateries. Finally, we conclude that tangibility of service is an important factor in the success of eateries in Port Harcourt. On the basis of the above conclusions, we make the following recommendations: Eateries in Port Harcourt should continue to work hard to ensure that the quality of their service to customers remains high and reliable. Eateries should provide adequate training for their employees on how to be more responsive to customer needs and demands. Finally, we recommend that eateries pay very close attention to the tangible aspects of their services as this also influences the choices of customers.
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
.......... service sectors are becoming very competitive and demanding than before (Sara, 2013). This is because the consumers of services have become more quality conscious and demand for better services. With rapid increase in globalization, organizations are forced to improve their product and service quality in a bid to remain competitive (Rodie, Yasin, Alavi, Kunt, & Zimmerer, 2004; & Martin, 2001). Service quality is seen as one of the strategic tools used to retain customers. Therefore eateries are obliged to provide excellent services to their customers.
Customers are the reason for a firm's existence (Gupta & Zeithaml, 2006); hence the main purpose of the firm is to satisfy customers (Ang & Buttle 2006). As such, firms would not be able to uphold and increase their performance if there are no customers. A worldwide survey conducted by the Economist revealed that about 65% of the responding firms admitted that customer satisfaction as well as customers retention are their topmost priority in achieving their targeted performance (Gupta & Zeithaml, 2006). Similarly several past studies claimed that the existence of a firm is mainly to create and sustain an advantageous relationship with its preferred customers (Ang & Buttle, 2006; Ryals & Knox, 2005). As such, customer retention has been the center of discussion and the key agenda of firms since the last decades.
Customer retention is not only a cost effective and profitable strategy but very necessary in today's business world. This is especially true when you remember that 80% of your sales come from 20% of your customers (Pareto, 1971). Good customer retention is vital to any organization because a slight reduction in the customer defection rate has a disproportionate positive effect on profitability; and companies with high customer retention grow faster (Njane, 2013). For customer satisfaction to be high, promises and expectations must be met. This involves the ability of the organization to understand customer’s expectations and do it right the first. The impact of losing customers is numerous and many businesses do not really understand how important it is. It is costly to acquire new customers than to retain the existing ones as a small increase in customer retention rate could result in dramatic increase in profit (Njane, Ness, Schroneneck, Letendre, & Douglas, 2001).
There is a direct relationship between customer retention and repurchase intension because the more positive the relationship between the company and the customer is the more often he buys from this company which has positive influence on turnover (Reicheld, & Sasser 1990). Satisfied customers are likely to advertise positive words of mouth recommendation which is one of the most efficient and economic activities to win new customers. It should be noted that unretained customers are price/cost sensitive because a customer who is loyal to a company is more likely to accept a price increase than a customer without loyalty .......
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY
1.2 Statement of the problem
1.3 Conceptual framework
4.3 Purpose of the study
1.6 Research questions.
1.6 Statement of hypothesis
1.7 Significance of the study
1.8 Scope of the study
1.9 Limitation of the study
1.10 Definition of Terms
1.11 Organization of the study
REFERENCES
CHAPTER TWO
INTRODUCTION
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
THEORETICAL FRAME WORK (THE SERVQUAL MODEL)
Empirical Review on Service Quality and Customer Retention
2.1 Concept of Service Quality
2.1.1 Characteristics of Service:
2.1.2 Barriers to Service Quality
2.2 Dimension of Service Quality
2.2.2 Service Quality management
2.3 Concept of Customer Retention
2.3.1 Importance of Customer Retention
2.4 Measures of Customer Retention
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
3.0 Introduction
3.1 Research Design
3.2 Population of the study
3.3 Sampling procedure/sample size determination.
3.4 Data collection method
3.4.1 Instrument Design
3.5 Validity of the instrument
3.6 Reliability of the instrument
3.7 Data analysis Technique
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
4.0 INTRODUCTION
4.1 Questionnaire Administration and Response Rate
4.2 Univariate Analyses
4.3 Bivariate Analyses
4.4 TESTING HYPOTHESES
4.5 Discussion of Findings
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
5.2 CONCLUSIONS
5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS
5.4 SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER STUDY
REFERENCES
QUESTIONNAIRE
Reference code: C083
Reference code: C083
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